we begin "the dream"

February 24, 2017

Talk about a new start to a new adventure.....I am learning how to blog!!  With help of son Rob, I hope this turns out as planned...  

We (Bob and Jane) hope to use this as a tool for all of you who have expressed interest and curiosity in this plan of ours to live aboard a boat for at least a year (we will see how it goes!) while fulfilling our boaters dream of cruising "The Great Loop". ..  and hopefully will serve as insight for those of you who have bets on whether the two of us can live in such small quarters for such a long time!

The Plan.......One snowy, cold evening about a year ago, I made the casual comment to Bob "if we are ever going to do the Great Loop, we should do it sooner, rather than later....."  I woke up the next morning to Bob viewing photo/listings of several boats available for sale and a plan as to when we would go buy one!!  I asked for a cup of coffee and then gave him my "demands".....boat must have #1. a walk around bed (I am too old to be crawling around a berth)  #2. a "back porch"....if we are living aboard, a indoor/outdoor space is a must.... #3. a washer and dryer  #4. a bathtub....I have learned from the 5 boats that we previously cruised on, back in our great lakes boating days, that a tub will guarantee you a bigger bathroom (head)......he had a couple of his demands also....bow thruster, and updated electronics...NOT nearly as important as my "needs"!!

The Boat.....even though we hadn't owned a boat in the last 6 years the "bug" never left our system  and therefore we had a pretty good idea that our next boat would be an (as we used to call them) "old mans boat".   We had decided that one of us is now "old" ...so it seemed only right that our needs are now different than our days of go fast cruisers.....  Thus the model we had looked up and decided we would search for would be a "Californian"....an older model "OMB"...the perfect "live aboard" for us.

The Search...Bob had business that took him to Jacksonville, Florida.  It was there that he saw, in person, the first Californian...he liked it and "walked thru it with me on the phone".  It happened to be a boat that was just moved to Florida from the Great Lakes of Michigan....made it all the more desirable (as a "fresh water" boat was also on his list).  However, timing was an issue...that boat sold fast...we were disappointed, but met a great boat broker who assured us he would find the perfect Californian for us.

The Deal....now Bob has a plan in his head and nothing is getting in the way of that....(not a job, a "dirt" house, Jane's reluctance to leave Colorado, etc....)  He finds a great one-owner (good for a 25 yr old boat) located in Lake St. Clair, MICHIGAN!....We fly up to look at it and by August, we are the proud new owners....OK, Now What!!